The Execution of the US Program Creates a Number of Uncertainties

The Execution of the US Program Creates a Number of Uncertainties

The Agefi reported that some documents from the US Department of Justice (DoJ) show that bank employee will probably be investigated and even prosecuted in the USA.

In an interview with the Agefi, Aurelia Rappo, a defender of the banking employee and a banking regulations specialist, stresses that employees and ex-employees whose name is transmitted to the US within the frame of the US program are at risk. Some banks are saying that their employees have nothing to fear as long as they abided by the internal rules, a statement that Mrs. Rappo rejects. She believes that the American authorities will look at whether the US laws have been breached or not and nothing else. The same will apply to 3rd parties involved.
In a convention between the ASB and the ASEB banks have offered to cover the legal costs incurred to employees by the US Program. The case is not so clear for banks who might leave Switzerland and get acquired by a competitor. Another uncertainty lies in the documents that can subsequently be provided by the defence without breaching the Swiss banking secrecy. It is also unclear what the USA will do with the names; in theory they could share the names with other countries under US laws.

The US Program was set up in August last year in order to resolve a tax dispute between the USA and the Swiss banks. The Category 2 banks have a deadline on September 15, 2014, to hand over a number of data to the DoJ.